This invention relates to covers for club heads, and more particularly to a head cover for a golf club which may conveniently be used as a wiper for cleaning a golf ball or golf club, as well as to the method of applying the cover hereof to a golf club.
Although golf club head covers exist in various configurations for providing protection for golf club heads while the club is not in actual use, only a few have been developed which are intended to serve an additional purpose of permitting the golfer to utilize the cover as a wiper for cleaning the golf ball or the club during play. One such dual purpose club head cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,570, issued to Edra J. Stewart, in which it is pointed out that such dual purpose covers are particularly useful as a putter cover. When a golfer takes the putter to the putting green, he/she removes the dual purpose cover from the putter and may use it to wipe the ball and/or the putter prior to putting. The Stewart device, which is constructed of terry cloth or toweling, includes a head-engaging portion conforming to the configuration to the putter head, a narrowed "waist" portion which may be elasticized for grasping the club shaft, and an elongate skirt portion hanging loosely around a considerable portion of the length of the shaft of the club. The skirt portion may, alternatively, be fastened to furl around the club shaft when the club is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,652, issued to Alsie G. Hyden and Bill J. Blundell, discloses a combined putter head cover and towel, in which a boot-shaped sheath fits over the putter head and may include an elastic band for aiding in the retention of the boot on the putter head. A towel is secured about the peripheral edge of the boot's leg portion and is open along its length, apparently for hanging about the putter's shaft in a manner similar to the cover of the Stewart patent.
In each of these prior art devices, the head-engaging portion is shaped to the configuration of a particular type of putter head for fitting over the entire club head including the head's heel end and the club's distal toe end, and the towel portion substantially surrounds the putter's shaft. It would appear that such devices are not freely usable with different shapes and sizes of golf club heads, or even with different shapes and sizes of putter heads. Moreover, the circumstance of the towel's surrounding the shaft may interfere with the placing of the covered club in the golf club bag, as well as with the placing or withdrawing of other golf clubs in or from the bag containing the covered club. Further, the golfer would not conveniently be able to directly grasp the covered club by its shaft in the vicinity of the club head when withdrawing or replacing the club from or into the bag.